Ultimately, the five-member committee voted 4-1 to send the proposal to the full Board of Supervisors for consideration — but not before some back and forth between the two men over whether the money was being spent in the best way, and whether Farrell had adequately involved homeless advocates in the process.

Supervisor John Avalos

Avalos noted that the Coalition on Homelessness, one of the city’s most vocal and powerful voices around homeless policy, wanted to see some of the funds spent on a proposed shelter that would provide medical services. He proposed splitting the money and spending half of it on something other than outreach services, or delaying the item for two weeks to get more buy-in from advocates.

Farrell, however, said he had undertaken an exhaustive outreach process, even if not everyone agreed with the outcome. The medical shelter proposal, he added, is nowhere near ready to go, while additional outreach workers and transitional beds could make an impact immediately.

“I introduced this a month and half ago … from my perspective this is something that is ripe to go,” he said. “I think we have a pressing need on the streets in every single neighborhood, and this is one part of a discussion of the entire homeless operation in San Francisco. It doesn’t negate support or discussions around any other part of what we will do around the homeless population in San Francisco, but it’s a start.”